Some questions on dress codes.

February 2022 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: Please help me to know more about the dress code in the Old Testament. For example, a man was not to put on a woman’s dress; woolen and linen were not to be mixed. Who gave these laws – God or Moses? What happened at that time to prompt these laws: lifestyle, climate or what? What was its purpose? Was it meant to address issues at that time only or was it to continue? Please give me the historical background for all these rules about dress.

ANSWER: We will not take these questions in the order they are given. In fact when we look at the divine principles that govern these laws, the questions fade into the background.

First of all, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV) tells us, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” When the apostle Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, people had the entire Old Testament. Only a part of the New Testament was written, and this was in the form of letters and some individual books. Printing had not yet been invented, so these were copied by hand. Very few Christians would have more than a small portion of what we now call the New Testament. What they had, they treasured.

Let’s carefully remember that the Holy Spirit inspired Moses to write the book of Deuteronomy (except probably chapter 34 as it appears this was written by someone else). The book is a part of God’s Holy Word, and God stands behind His Word. The Lord Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Mt. 5:17-18).

God gave the law to His earthly people Israel, and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). However, they failed miserably in doing what they had so rashly promised, capping their sins by eventually crucifying God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We Christians are not under the law since Christ has died, risen from the dead, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit down to indwell, teach and guide us into all the truth. Christ Himself is to be the example we follow. Some Jewish believers wanted to make Gentile converts get circumcised and keep the law, but the Holy Spirit made plain in Acts 15 that absolutely nothing was to be added to the work that Christ finished. The Epistle To The Galatians was written to combat this erroneous idea.

Even those parts of God’s Word that do not directly apply to us who are Christians have their place in the Bible. We learn more than ancient history from them; we discover how God feels about many important matters. One thing we see in the very first chapter of Genesis is that God is an all-wise God of order who hates mixtures. He divided light from darkness, the waters above from the water beneath, the dry land from the seas. God made the plants and fruit trees and all the different kinds of living creatures after their kinds, and created mankind, male and female.

He has His reasons for these separations. As an example, in Ephesians 5:22-33 He presented the fact of mankind being male and female. He also showed that it is He who brings the two together in marriage, each having their distinct role while complementing the other as a type of Christ and the Church. Other Scriptures illustrate this wonderful relationship still further.

He doesn’t always give His reasons for the commands or directions He gives. Yet sometimes He does. A careful reading of Deuteronomy 4 makes it clear that the law was given for Israel and it distinguished them from all other nations on earth. Ezekiel 44:18 sheds some light on the command for Israel not to wear garments of wool and linen mixed. Speaking of the temple that will be built in the millennium and the service of the priests then, God said their clothing when ministering to Him is to be made of linen: “they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.” In Genesis 3:19, as part of the result of Adam’s deliberately disobeying the one commandment God had given him, he was told, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” A priest’s service was meant to be a joyful privilege, not a burdensome, sweat-producing toiling.

God made men and women different, each having their God-given role yet needing and being dependent on the other. In the portion on headship in 1 Corinthians 11, which also gives us God’s instructions for Christian men’s and women’s hair and head covering, we read: “Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God” (vv.11-12). Elsewhere, since as we have already noted women are a type of the Church and men a type of Christ, women are exhorted to be dressed modestly and not flaunt themselves with costly jewelry (1 Tim. 2:9-15; 1 Pet. 3:1-6). Christ is the One to be displayed, and the Church is to be in submission to Him. Likewise, the sun shines in glorious radiant splendor, while the moon’s shining is the subdued reflection of the sun’s shining and is especially seen during the night when the sun’s presence is not visible to our eyes.

In giving Israel laws, God took their circumstances of life into consideration. For example, in Exodus 35:3 God forbade the Israelites to kindle a fire in their dwellings on the Sabbath. In Numbers 15:32-36 we are told about a man who was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath, evidently in preparation for making a fire. God commanded that this man should be stoned to death by the whole congregation of Israel. God was bringing His people through the wilderness into a land that seldom has snow or very cold weather. If He had given them Siberia or Alaska for their homeland, such a command would have been a real hardship.

Nowhere does God define men’s clothing in contrast to women’s clothing. Differences in climate and activities come into consideration when it comes to what to wear. Our clothes show how we present ourselves to others, and they are a type of this in the Bible. God’s earthly people were to maintain a difference between male and female. God’s heavenly people – Christians – should take note. God hates unisex – the attempt of fashion designers to break down this difference between the sexes. And as those who are pilgrims and strangers in the world (see Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11), we should not be seeking to draw attention to ourselves. Instead, we are to be pointing people to our Lord.

God spoke clearly in His Word against homosexuality and all the abuses of human sexuality that were common among heathen people in biblical times. These are being promoted and even legally protected in many countries as alternate lifestyles today. “Fornication” and “sin” are words that are seldom heard in today’s world. Man’s standards change rapidly, usually for the worse. God does not change and His standards do not change or accommodate themselves to man’s increasingly blatant wickedness. And while we believers live in the world, we are not of the world (Jn. 17:11,14). We are looking, or at least should be looking, for our Lord Jesus to come and take us to Himself, out of this present evil world. This is our “blessed hope,” which will be followed after a seven-year period of tribulation by the “glorious appearing of out great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Ti. 2:13). He will exercise righteous judgment and then rule in righteousness here where He was crucified and is still rejected. Lord Jesus, come!

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.

QUESTION:Thanks for your answer to my question on the dress code in the Old Testament. But the historical background of Deuteronomy 22:5 is not stated. Please don’t be offended to help me get an insight to this Scripture. Again, if a cassock was designed for Aaron as priest, is there any possibility for special clothing to be used during a worship session by believers of today? Thanks so much.

ANSWER:Deuteronomy means “Second Law.” The historical background for the entire book is stated in its opening verses. Verse 1 of chapter 1 tells us the place where Moses spoke the words of this book to the people of Israel. This was on the wilderness side of the land of Canaan, for the people did not cross over into the Promised Land until Joshua 3–4. Deuteronomy was given on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after the people of Israel had left Egypt (1:3). They had left Egypt during the night of the Passover – very early on the fifteenth day of the first month (see Ex. 12) of spring. So, the book of Deuteronomy is dated approximately in late February or early March of the fortieth year after leaving Egypt according to our way of dating time. The climate of that part of the world has been compared to that of South Carolina in the USA, a mild one.

Moses had been told by God that he would not enter the land with his people (Dt. 4:21). So here, to a people ready to cross the Jordan River and begin conquering the land that God was giving them, Moses reviewed the laws God had given them and urged them to obey Him, warning of the consequences of disobedience. Among these laws is this prohibition of wearing the clothes of the opposite sex. One expositor has pointed out that the idolatry of the heathen people of Canaan was closely interwoven with immorality, and that this is probably at the root of this prohibition.

Human marriage is declared in Ephesians 5:22-33 to be typical of the union of Christ and the Church. God’s ideal in marriage is for one (male) husband to have one (female) wife. Premarital sex (which God calls “fornication”), unisex, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, transvestitism and any other sexual relationships outside of the divine institution of marriage are all contrary to God’s will for mankind. God makes this plain in the law He gave His earthly people, Israel. He calls any such relationship “sin,” in no uncertain terms.

Our dress is how we present ourselves to others. Hence, clothing that obscures the difference between the sexes was forbidden by God. This was not done because of climatic conditions; it was a matter of the holiness of God in contrast to the debasement, or perversion, of the idolatry of the nations. Many countries today have made what God terms “sin” legal and politically correct. In some countries one who takes a stand with God against these various kinds of sin is subject to legal penalties.

With regard to a special type of dress for believers to wear during worship today, God does not require any, so we should not require any either. Israel was God’s earthly people. The nation had solemnly promised to do whatever the Lord would command. God held them to their promise. Their worship was one that appealed to the senses in every way: visible sacrifices, instrumental and also vocal music sung by trained choirs of men, a special hereditary priesthood descended from Aaron and Levitical assistants, special regalia for the priests, sweet-smelling incense and anointing oil, an impressive and magnificent building at which to worship.

True biblical Christianity mandates none of these. Christ, our Head in heaven, is the center around whom we are to gather. Where “two or three are gathered together to His name” He promises to be in the midst (Mt. 18:20). James 2:1-4 shows that rich people with fine clothing and poor people in just the opposite apparel would be found together at their meetings. God is no respecter of persons. He accepts us just as we are.

If we come into His presence wearing clean clothes, we do this to show respect for Him, but from an outward standpoint there need not be anything uniform about how Christians look when they worship. Women are exhorted in 1 Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3-4 to adorn themselves modestly, but this is for everyday life; there is no special direction given to Christians for how to dress for worship. Men don’t have to wear white shirts and suits and ties, as some have tried to require at times. There is nothing wrong with Christians dressing alike, as long as this is not something mandated or expected of them. For some in the group to wear a special type of clothing to distinguish them from others as though they were godlier or more important, as the priests in the Old Testament were required by the law to wear when on duty, is wrong. “One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren” (Mt. 23:8).

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.